So many visitors - in one evening!

 

We had the biggest crowd ever come to our house the other night – hundreds of ghouls, goblins, witches, ninjas, pirates, princesses and even a pickle – dropped by. 

 I have always loved dressing up on Halloween and handing out candy!  For the first time since we moved to Montréal, I was finally able to do so.  Year one we were on the 12^th floor of a high-rise apartment, which was not a very conducive arrangement for trick-or-treaters.  Years two, three and four – we had a long staircase to the front door, a very small porch area with no place to sit and a tiny vestibule.  Our street had a fair amount of kids but not a lot of the overall neighborhood traffic.  Finally – our new house has a big, covered front porch with enough room for several people to sit comfortably.  

Earlier in the week, I made a trip to the Dollar Store, where, interestingly enough - almost NOTHING is $1.00. How do they get away with that?  I added a not-very-scary new sparkly purple spider and a black and orange "BOO" banner to my meager (compared to some of the neighbours') decorations.  Our neighbourhood was super busy preparing for the big night.  So many houses really got into the spirit. Here is one from down the street, with quite a lot going on in that yard!   

Fortunately, due to my overly organized process of documenting box contents, I was easily able to locate box labeled “Storage 3” to retrieve my costumes.  I knew I had saved my witch hat, however, somehow my black plastic cauldron and straggly black wig did not make the move to Canada.  I did, however, still have all my long variously colored fingernails… a very important witch feature, even though it does impede my ability to easily grasp individual pieces of candy, which significantly prolongs the distribution process.  

It was a warmish evening (by Canadian standards) and no rain in the forecast either!  I dumped my candy into a stainless-steel pot, the closest thing to a cauldron I could conjure up at the last minute.   I strung up some fairy lights to let the kids know this house has candy, donned my black witch skirt, black shirt, black leggings and a light jacket and settled into my chair on the porch. 

My friends Donna and Marcy offered to join me for the occasion.  Donna arrived with kangaroo costumes in hand. Since the joeys had apparently grown up and left the pouches, Minnie Mouse and a bunny were on hand to fill in. Marcy's pouch was practically dragging on the ground- we think she was part rapper kangaroo.  Much laughter ensued.  (I even laughed again just looking at this!) 

We parked ourselves on the porch and I proceeded to entertain (mostly myself) the trick or treaters, taunting them with my best witch cackle.  My common response, once approached with the traditional “trick or treat” request from the innocent candy collectors, was “well – which one do you want – trick – or – treat?”   It usually takes them aback for a second or two and 99% finally respond with a somewhat timid “treat?” Then I reply, grumbling…. “I suspected you would say that”. I did have one kid say “you decide” – so then it was my turn to be startled. I had to relent and give him a treat because, despite all my bravado, I had absolutely no tricks planned!  

Marcy and Donna were great at determining what the kids were supposed to be and Donna even chimed in occasionally with her best kangaroo sounding imitation (thanks to Google!).  Another friend, Debbie came over for a bit since she was at her daughter's house, just around the corner.  It is great having so many friends close by!  

I don’t know if it was the haunted house at the end of our block, the awesome weather, the relaxing Covid restrictions or my just being new to the 'hood, but I had no idea so many kids would be out that night. I love the fact that many of the parents got dressed up too.   Two big boxes of candy, plus an additional bag was not nearly enough.  I ran out of candy fairly early, around 7:30 and felt badly because we had a line of kids we had to turn away.  We quickly unplugged
the lights and scurried inside before the next batch of revelers appeared.     

I had such a good time - laughing with friends and watching all the kids having so much fun. I think this may be a new tradition -  I cannot wait to do it again next year.